Crossing the border

Tijuana Travel Blog

I find Tijuana very interesting; there are a lot of people on the US side but nothing compared to the Mexican side. Since I was to drive in to Mexico and beyond the Free Trade Zone, I was required to obtain a driving permit along with Mexican insurance. The permit itself was about $300 which is only good for six months. Well, I decided to park my car in the US side and walked across the border into Mexico to take care of all the paperwork. Crossing the border was easy as there is no entry check point for people walking across from US into Mexico. The offices that handle all the car imports, insurance and passport stamping where conveniently located and the officers were really nice.

The process took about two hours but by then it was starting to get dark. After I was done with paperwork, I crossed to the other side of the freeway where a long line of people where waiting to cross the border into the US. The line was quite a few meters long and people had been there for over two hours. I was so disappointed as I didn't think of what a nightmare was waiting in line to get back in the US before deciding to leave my car in the US, but one of the reasons I left my car in the US side was because I didn’t feel comfortable leaving it in Tijuana while I took care of the paperwork. Tijuana is an area with high rate of crime. It took me about two hours to cross the border into US.

Once I had my car, I filled the gas tank up and crossed the border back into Mexico again. The freeways in Tijuana where so crowded, it was a nightmare driving there. It was dark, keeping my guard while driving and looking for directions signs were not an easy task. I missed a couple turns but I was able to get back to my planned route. My goal for the first night was driving all the way to Ensenada and spending the night there. I was so tired, as I had been driving for 10 hours in the US side; it took me about 2 more hours to get to Ensenada from the border. The road outside Tijuana where narrow and dark and relaxing while driving was not an option. I arrived to Ensenada around 10 PM and had a hard time finding a decent hotel where to spend the night. After a half hour of driving round, I found a hotel outside town which was still under construction. The room didn’t have hot water but the price of $30 per night was almost irresistible so I decided to stay there. After I checked in, I drove to the nearest taco place and had tacos for dinner…it was such a long day!